The top reported proficiency rate is 41% in English language arts. The lowest is 24% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Frank Del Olmo Elementary
Frank del Olmo Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Los Angeles, a few blocks from downtown. The school sits in a densely urban environment where Los Angeles is revitalized and densely mixed-use. Downtown has undergone significant change, with residential apartments stacked on top of ground-floor businesses and a walkable streetscape in the Arts District and Historic Core. The neighborhood is anchored by public transit, including Metro rail and bus lines that connect the area to the broader city.
The student body is small to mid-sized for an elementary school. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the enrollment is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with smaller populations of Asian, Black, White, and multiracial students. A few students identify as American Indian or Alaska Native. The school's enrollment has remained stable across its grade levels from kindergarten through fifth grade.
In state testing, Frank del Olmo's academic profile shows low to moderate performance across subjects. In English language arts, results vary by grade: third grade is below typical benchmarks, fourth grade is slightly stronger, and fifth grade shows a noticeable lift and is closer to state proficiency ranges. In math, performance is modest across all tested grades, ranging from the mid-thirtieth-percentile range in third and fifth grades to the low-forties range in fourth grade. In science, fifth-grade performance is markedly lower than in reading and math. When proficiency rates are averaged across all tested subjects and grades, the school sits below the midpoint relative to schools assessed within Los Angeles County.
The school belongs to Los Angeles Unified, a large urban district now in an active phase of facilities investment and policy change. The district recently passed a major school facilities bond to address aging buildings, a change that will raise property taxes for families on a long-term basis. The district has also adopted a district-wide cellphone ban during the entire school day and has revised its Black Student Achievement Plan to broaden eligibility for culturally responsive curriculum and added staffing. These changes shape the environment and support available across the district.
The immediate community around Frank del Olmo reflects downtown Los Angeles's character: dense, mixed-use, and diverse. Housing costs in the area are substantial, with median home values notably above national benchmarks. Rental costs are also high relative to median household income. The broader economic environment includes moderate unemployment and strong employment anchored by major institutions such as the County of Los Angeles, LAUSD itself, UCLA, Kaiser Permanente, and USC, along with aerospace, entertainment, and healthcare sectors. The city is in active rezoning and new housing production, though building has slowed amid high interest rates and construction costs.
For families considering Frank del Olmo, the school offers proximity to downtown resources and transit, serves a deeply economically and linguistically diverse student population, and sits within a district undergoing substantial facilities upgrades and policy evolution. The academic performance data shows room for growth in core subjects, with particular strength emerging in upper-elementary English language arts. A parent may want to look into further detail about the school's specific curriculum approaches, the availability of English learner support and special services, and how the school's small size affects program breadth.
See more original research from School Decision →